Islamic revival in the Volga-Ural region - article ; n°1 ; vol.32, pg 107-116

Nadir Devlet

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Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique - Année 1991 - Volume 32 - Numéro 1 - Pages 107-116
Nadir Devlet, Le réveil de l'islam dans la région Volga-Oural.
En 922 l'islam fut adopté comme religion officielle de la région connue à cette époque comme l'État bulghar turc. En 1552 après le déclin du khanat de Kazan, l'islam a été opprimé par les nouveaux dirigeants. C'est seulement Catherine II (1762-1796) qui inaugura une politique libérale et, en 1789, que fut fondée l'Administration religieuse musulmane panrusse. Une fois au pouvoir, le gouvernement soviétique n'a pas tenu ses promesses et il a lancé une campagne antireligieuse. Pour soutenir le moral de la population pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le gouvernement soviétique a révisé sa politique de persécutions religieuses. Mais après la guerre, les attaques reprirent. La perestrojka et la glasnosť tendent à accorder une certaine liberté qui permet d'ouvrir de nouvelles mosquées et d'en rouvrir d'anciennes et de propager l'islam d'une façon plus libérale qu'avant. Aussi peut-on parler d'un réveil de l'islam dans cette région.
Nadir Devlet, Islamic revival in the Volga-Ural region.
In 922, Islam had acquired the status of the official creed of the region that at the time was known as the Turkic Bulgar State. In 1552, after the decline of the Kazan khanate, the Russians, who were now ruling this land, persecuted the Islamic religion. The oppression lasted till the advent of Catherine II (1762-1796) who inaugurated a more liberal policy towards her Muslim subject. In particular, it is under her reign that in 1789, the Pan-Russian Muslim Religious Administration was organized. The Soviet government, after its institution, embarked on an anti-religious campaign in defiance of all its former promises. This policy was somewhat revised with regard to all the creeds of the USSR, after the outbreak of the Second World War as the authorities deemed it necessary to thus boost the morale of the population. However, after the war, attacks on religion started again. This lasted until the perestroïka and glasnosť when some freedom was again awarded to Muslims, enabling them to create new mosques, to reopen old ones and to practise and propagate freely their religious beliefs. Thus, we can speak of a measure of Islamic revival in this region.
10 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_MONDE_RUSSE_ET_SOVIETIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1991
• Nombre de lectures: 21
• Langue: English

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Nadir Devlet
Islamic revival in the Volga-Ural region
In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 32 N°1. pp. 107-116.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Devlet Nadir. Islamic revival in the Volga-Ural region. In: Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique. Vol. 32 N°1. pp. 107-116.
doi : 10.3406/cmr.1991.2266
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cmr_0008-0160_1991_num_32_1_2266Résumé
Nadir Devlet, Le réveil de l'islam dans la région Volga-Oural.
En 922 l'islam fut adopté comme religion officielle de la région connue à cette époque comme l'État
bulghar turc. En 1552 après le déclin du khanat de Kazan, l'islam a été opprimé par les nouveaux
dirigeants. C'est seulement Catherine II (1762-1796) qui inaugura une politique libérale et, en 1789, que
fut fondée l'Administration religieuse musulmane panrusse. Une fois au pouvoir, le gouvernement
soviétique n'a pas tenu ses promesses et il a lancé une campagne antireligieuse. Pour soutenir le moral
de la population pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le gouvernement soviétique a révisé sa politique
de persécutions religieuses. Mais après la guerre, les attaques reprirent. La perestrojka et la glasnosť
tendent à accorder une certaine liberté qui permet d'ouvrir de nouvelles mosquées et d'en rouvrir
d'anciennes et de propager l'islam d'une façon plus libérale qu'avant. Aussi peut-on parler d'un réveil de
l'islam dans cette région.
Abstract
Nadir Devlet, Islamic revival in the Volga-Ural region.
In 922, Islam had acquired the status of the official creed of the region that at the time was known as the
Turkic Bulgar State. In 1552, after the decline of the Kazan khanate, the Russians, who were now ruling
this land, persecuted the Islamic religion. The oppression lasted till the advent of Catherine II (1762-
1796) who inaugurated a more liberal policy towards her Muslim subject. In particular, it is under her
reign that in 1789, the Pan-Russian Muslim Religious Administration was organized. The Soviet
government, after its institution, embarked on an anti-religious campaign in defiance of all its former
promises. This policy was somewhat revised with regard to all the creeds of the USSR, after the
outbreak of the Second World War as the authorities deemed it necessary to thus boost the morale of
the population. However, after the war, attacks on religion started again. This lasted until the perestroïka
and glasnosť when some freedom was again awarded to Muslims, enabling them to create new
mosques, to reopen old ones and to practise and propagate freely their religious beliefs. Thus, we can
speak of a measure of Islamic revival in this region.NADIR DEVLET
ISLAMIC REVIVAL
IN THE VOLGA-URAL REGION
Introduction
When in 1552, with the decline of Turkic peoples, Tatars and Bashkirs had
been forced to submit to the Russian yoke and were grievously oppressed by
Orthodox Russians, it was Islam alone that enabled these Turks to preserve their
national identity. In other words, Islam has a national and cultural significance
beyond the purely religious aspect.1 Nowadays, approximately 7 million Muslims
are domiciliated in the Volga-Ural region.2
Historical background
Islam represents a tradition of long standing in this region: in 922 - that is sev
enty years before Russians were converted to Christianity (in 988) - Islam has been
adopted as the official creed of the region that at the time was known as the Turkic
Bulgar State.3 Mufti Talgat Tajeddin, Chairman of the Muslim Religious Board
exercising its jurisdiction over the European sector of the USSR and Siberia, con
firmed that Almas, the khan of Volga Bulgars had officially adopted Islam on the
16 Muharrem 310 Hijra (12 May 922).4
Catherine II (1762-1796) inaugurated a rather more liberal policy with regard
to her Muslim subjects. On December 4, 1789 the All-Russian Muslim Religious
Board (Dukhovnoe Sobranie/Diniye Nezareti) has been founded in Ufa. In 1868,
there existed already 729 mosques in the province of Kazan and their number
steadily increased every year. In 1802, in Nizhni-Novgorod the first Christian
Tatars (Kreshin) gave up openly Christian religion and reverted to Islam.5 The
Orthodox Church was greatly worried by this occurrence and missionaries such as
the famous Il'minskii (1822-1891) promoted a series of measures destined to keep
christened Tatars within the Church. But, in the meantime, Muslims had not been
inactive. Taking advantage of the permission granted by Russian authorities to
issue publications in Arabic script, they produced and distributed among the popu-
Cahiersdu Monde russe et soviétique, XXX// (1). janvier-mars 1991, pp. 107-116. 108 NADIR DEVLET
lation an important literature, mainly of religious character, printed in Ara
bic. From 1801 to 1855, 577 books of that description appeared in Kazan.6 This
figure is all the more impressive as during that same period only 1,463 books have
been published in the whole of Russia. From 1842 to 1852, publications of
Islamic literature included 23,600 copies of the Quran and 44,300 Haftiyak (sev
enth part of the Quran) and from 1853 to 1859, in six years, 82,300 copies of
Quran, 165,000 Haftiyak were printed.7
When, on November 17, 1905, the tsar's manifesto granted civil rights to all the
subjects of the Empire regardless of their creed, masses of Kreshin Tatars left the
Orthodox Church. In the eparkhiia of Kazan alone, 23,860 members of the native
population withdrew from the Orthodox Church, reverting to Islam.8 Here are
some official figures that illustrate the situation: in 1913 there existed in the prov
ince of Kazan 680 churches and monasteries, against 1,890 mosques in the same
region. In 1912, the number of maktab-madrasah (Islamic schools) grew to
1,100. In 1917, the city of Kazan had a total population of 206,000 persons, 22
per cent of which were Tatars. However, they had 13 mosques at their disposal
(the same quantity as the entire Tatar republic in 1977). In 1917, there were
2,223 mosques and 3,683 official mulla in Tatarstan.9
Post revolution
During the first years of the Bolshevik revolution, Communists were forced to
consider Islam not only as a religion but also as a movement with a political potent
ial representing millions of Muslims. In the famous declaration of December 20,
1917 the Soviet government promised to the Muslim workers freedom of religion
and the right to practise native customs without restrictions. After coming into
power, however, the Soviet government broke all these promises: religious institu
tions were closed, religious education banned, religious leaders were persecuted
and mosques still "working" were highly taxed. Further to these administrative
measures, the Soviet rulers engaged in antireligious propaganda, in which the
Union of Militant Atheists (Soiuz voinstvuiushchikh bezbozhnikov - SVB) played
an important role.10
In the period between the consolidation of Bolshevik power and 1924, there
was a marked liberalization of Soviet attitude toward Islam. They could not
afford to indulge in extreme anti-Islamic activities and were forced to comprom
ise. The second chief historical episode spans the period between 1928 and
1941. The Soviet authorities considered that there was no further need to come to
an understanding with Muslim representatives. Muslim communist leaders were
no longer entrusted with the role of potential bridges with the non-communist Musl
im society: in fact they were then systematically arrested for "nationalistic
deviation" and replaced by Russians.11
By 1932, the number of native language publications devoted solely to anti-
religious propaganda in the Tatar and Bashkir republics had considerably
increased: 10 newspapers and 23 journals began printing materials on athe
ism. The best known among them are the Tatar journals Fen hem Din (Science
and Religion, 1925-1932) printed in Moscow, Sugyshchan Allahsyz (Militant Godl
ess, 1932-1937) printed in Kazan, and the Bashkir journal Dehri (Atheist, 1928) in
Ufa (later Allahsyz., 1928-1935). We must also mention journals in Russian, such ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN THE VOLGA-URAL REGION 109
as Nash puť, Kommunisticheskii puť, Prosveshchenie, Puť revoliutsii and Nauka i
religiia (after 1959).12 It is interesting to note that the majority of anti-religious
publications in Turkic languages were in Tatar and Bashkir. The other two atheist
ic Turkic journals were Molla Nasreddin (1922-1931, later Allahsyz, 1931-1933)
in Azeri and Hudaisizlar (Godless, 1923-1933) in Uzbek.13 It should also be
noted that atheistic propaganda directed at the Volga-Ural Muslims, that is the
Tatars and Bashkirs, continued longer than in other Muslim areas of the Soviet
Union. We can assume therefore that the Soviet authorities were more concerned
about the Islamic heritage in those particular parts.
Special courses were organized with the objective of training propagandists
whose task was to fight religion and national tradition. In 1926, the Union of Mil
itant Atheists in the Tatar ASSR counted 2,000 members; their number grew to
25,000 in 1930